SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Venturous repatriated 18 Dominican and two Haitians during an at-sea transfer to the Dominican Republic navy off the coast of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Thursday.

Caribbean Border Interagency Group authorites interdicted the repatirated migrants following two separate at-sea interdictions in the Eastern Caribbean Tuesday.

The Coast Guard Cutter Venturous detected and interdicted the first migrant vessel Tuesday morning disabled with nine Dominicans and two Haitian migrants onboard, approximately 20 nautical miles north of Samana, Dominican Republic.

The crew of the Venturous embarked the migrants safely onboard and recovered the migrant vessel from the water, which reportedly had been stolen.

A second migrant vessel with nine Dominican men onboard was also detected Tuesday morning by the crew of a patrolling Customs and Border Protection dash-8 marine surveillance aircraft, transiting towards Puerto Rico, approximately 29 nautical miles north of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico.

Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector San Juan diverted the Coast Guard Cutter Sapelo and a 45-foot Response Boat Medium (RBM) from Coast Guard Boat Station San Juan to interdict the migrant vessel, and they launched a Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen to provide rescue support. A Customs and Border Protection (CBP) marine unit also responded.

The crew of the CBP marine unit interdicted the migrant vessel, while the Coast Guard 45-foot RBM arrived on scene and embarked the migrants safely onboard. The migrants were initially transferred to the Coast Guard Cutter Sapelo before being transferred to the Coast Guard Cutter Venturous for further repatriation to the Dominican Republic.

The Coast Guard crews processed the migrants from both interdictions to determine if any had a previous criminal or illegal immigration history in the United States or a U.S. Territory.

The Coast Guard Cutter Venturous repatriated the 18 Dominican and 2 Haitian migrants Thursday morning upon transferring custody to crew of the Dominican Republic navy patrol boat Proción in waters off the coast of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The recovered small boat interdicted by the Venturous was also transferred to the Proción.

The Coast Guard Cutter Sapelo is a 110-foot patrol boat, homeported in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The Coast Guard Cutter Venturous is a 210-foot Medium Endurance Cutter homeported in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Click the photo for more pictures.

CBIG was formally created to unify efforts of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico, and Puerto Rico Police Joint Forces of Rapid Action, in their common goal of securing the borders of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands against illegal migrant and drug smuggling.

The Coast Guard’s efforts under Operation Unified Resolve contribute to the interagency results being achieved each and every day locally under Operation Caribbean Guard, which coordinates efforts between the Coast Guard, its DHS, Commonwealth and Territorial law enforcement partners, who are working diligently to deter, detect and disrupt illicit maritime trafficking to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.